The sowing of a life which leads to death and the sowing of a death which leads to life

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

NOTES FROM MISSION THURSDAY 25 AUGUST 2022 – REV JIM LYONS

ROMANS 6 VERSE 23, JOHN 12 VERSE 24

Whatever a person sows that is what he is going to reap.  The same is true in agriculture or horticulture.  It is the same in many areas of life.  If an athlete trains and exercises hard as well as eating a healthy diet maybe someday they will make it to the podium and receive medals for all their effort.  If an employee works hard and in honesty they might reap the reward in a promotion.  If a student is diligent in their study and thorough revision they might well reach a pass mark.  If you drink alcoholic until it controls you, you are going to reap an addiction, possibly ill health, an empty pocket and maybe even a broken home.  Throughout life this principle is so evident for all to see.  This is the same spiritual principle in the bible.  There are 2 main thoughts from the scripture we read:

1.     The sowing of a life which leads to death

2.    The sowing of a death which leads to life

Firstly, the sowing of a life which leads to death.  Romans 6 verse 23 “for the wages of sin is death.”  If an employee works hard all month, his employer might ask ‘why should I pay you’ and the employee might reply ‘I have worked hard, I deserve, I have earned my salary.’  If we live a life of sin, with self at the centre, with no time for God we will earn the wages of that kind of life – death.  The letter ‘I’ is the central letter in the word sin and therefore means I will not have God to control my life, it is rebellion against God, he will not rule my life.  Paul says that sort of life reaps death.  What does the bible mean when it speaks of death?  The word death is mentioned 342 times in the bible.  It does not always mean the same thing in the bible. There are 3 types of death.  The first one we are very well acquainted with is physical death. It was never God’s intention for death to be part of this world.  He made this world and saw that it was good but it came in as a result of Adam and Eve believing the word of Satan, rejecting and rebelling against the word of God.  Sin which is rebellion against God came in and along with that came death.  Sin has been part of our world since then until now and will be the norm until there is a new heaven and a new earth ushered in where there will be no sin but all will be righteousness, no death but life for evermore,  In summer months the leaves on the trees are green but when the autumn comes the leaves change colours and they begin to fade and fall which is hastened on by the harsh winds of winter.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that we all in the same way fade as the leaf so we are not as young or we don’t feel as fit as used to because we are wrapped up in this process of decay that is leading to death. It is sure, it is sad and often it is sudden.  When the bible speaks of death it is physical death.  We are conscious of that when we attend a funeral, we are faced with the reality of death.  Spiritual death is the second death mentioned.  Speaking to Adam about the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said to him “on the day you eat of it you will die.”  It was not referring to a physical death but a spiritual death. Up until that time God came in the cool of the day, he came to have fellowship with Adam in the Garden but something happened.  There came a breach in that relationship.  Through the rebellion against God’s word and believing Satan’s word so they were expelled from the Garden.  Spiritual death is all about separation from God.  This worked out on the human level as there was further separation further in his family through Cain and Abel where we see man’s inhumanity to man.  Romans 5 verse 12 “wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”  If we chose to live a life where sin reigns we are separated from God and that works its way through our lives and we then become separated from people. This is the cause of war, corruption, prejudice, greed and hate - it separates families.  This is the epidemic of sin in that it spreads and destroys and separates everything in its path.  This is the condition of our lives if we have not trusted in Christ who died on Calvary’s cross to give us that acceptance before God and bring the peace of God in our hearts when sin has been dealt with.  It is a serious condition not only in the present but what it leads to - the third type of death, eternal death.  For those who remain in sin, separated from God, when they die they will be separated from God for all eternity in a place the bible calls hell and they will know the eternalness of death.  Death in which there is no dying, it will be conscious, continual, a painful separation from God.  So those are the 3 types of death in the bible.  If we persist in rejecting the rightful rule of God in our lives, as God presents his gospel, the gospel of good news, that Jesus came into the world with the absolute supreme purpose of going to the cross, dying for us on the cross for our sins, shedding his blood, giving himself in our place as a sin offering so that we could be accepted before God.  If we resist, and constantly reject the rightful rule of God in our lives, then we will remain separated from him, separated from peace, from forgiveness, from hope and joy.  If we continue in that state until we die then it will be misery for all eternity.  That is what makes it an imperative message this evening.  You need to get right and get it sorted out because none of us know the moment when we will leave this earth.  Maybe tonight you are concluding that is a very negative approach but yet we need to understand the serious news about sin if we are to embrace the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Some years ago there was a tract entitled “The good news is so good because the bad news is so bad.”  We will all experience physical death.  Maybe you know something of the spiritual death where you are living your life, separated from God.  Yes you may attend church, do good works but you can still be separated from God.  The Holy Spirit has made you conscious of that fact.  You are not living in a relationship with God, you are trying to form some kind of religious habits but still you are separated from God.  You need to enter into a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ because that is the only way that separation can be dealt with.

Secondly the sowing of a death that leads to life.  Throughout the gospel of John, his account of Jesus Christ, his life is depicted as the servant of Jehovah.  He was living to a divine plan as he came to do his father’s will.  It was his will that his son go to the cross and lay down his life so that others might live through him.  Also as we read through John’s account of the life of Jesus was also carefully planned.  It was in the hands of God alone.  Quite often we read the words “my time has not yet come” but in chapter 12 verse 23 the emphasis changes as he announces to his disciples his death - we read “the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified.”  Then in verse 24 referring to his death and resurrection he spoke those words  “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground (that is the sowing of his death) and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit in his death.”  He provided a way of salvation for those who are separated to be joined to God.  The sowing of his death is a sowing that would lead to a harvest of life.  This is the sowing of death that we are going to look at.  Romans 6 verse 23 “for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Because the Lord went to the cross and died upon that cross he can give to us the promise and reality of eternal life.  3 things regarding the type of life that it is.   

First of all eternal life is an endless life.  Life as we know it will come to an end but it is only a little of what God has planned for those who trust in him.  Because the Lord Jesus both died and was raised from the grave he has power over death.  Therefore the bible says he lives after the power of an endless life.  When we come to the end of our earthly existence that is not the end because there is an eternity ahead.  It is important that we prepare for that by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour.  The book of Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that God has put eternity in our hearts, he has given us that consciousness that death is not the end and despite  the polls that are taken death is not the end but there is an eternity to follow.  The apostle Peter refers to death “shortly I must put on my tent.  He refers to his physical body as a tent.  The tent is something used for camping.  You use it in the summer time, in good weather but then you take it down and go into secure dwelling.  Peter says “knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.”  He was saying ‘this body will die and will come down like a temporary dwelling but I will live on for all eternity.’  For Peter and every Christian it would be absent from the body and present with the Lord.  It is hard to get to understand the endlessness of life.  Remember Star Trek “It is life Jim but not as we know it.”  Death and decay are all around us.  All will pass away.  Those who know the Lord will be with him for ever.  Isn’t this a life you long for?  A life free from pain, from sorrow, from suffering.  A life that never ever ends.  An endless life.  That is why it is so important you know the gift of eternal life through Christ alone.

Secondly it is a satisfying life.  When we accept what Jesus has done for us on our behalf, rest on his work alone for salvation we can know peace with God that is deeply satisfying as Jesus said “the reason I came into the world is to give people life and they might have it more abundantly.”  Eternal life means a foreverness with God but it also means a quality of life in the present to give us that sense of completeness, fulfilment and contentment.  Does your life feel empty?  Does your life feel unfulfilled?  It is not for the want of trying, not for the want of cramming all sorts of things into your life yet you still long for satisfaction.  When God is at the centre of our lives we will feel satisfaction and peace and contentment.

The final thing it is a given life.  The Lord Jesus is not a created being but he is a creator himself, therefore he can give eternal life to others.  John 6 “to whom can we go, you have the words of eternal life” and 1 John 5 verse 11 “and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son.”  Romans 6 verse 23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  This is not something we can earn or work it up and work toward a goal.  This is a gift from God.  That is how you can receive it – as a gift.  There is nothing you can do to earn it.  Jesus has done everything necessary when he came and died on the cross for you.  You have to trust in what he has done for you.  It is a simple step but a step of faith – acknowledge he has done it all, nothing I can do, I am just an undeserving sinner.  God will accept you through Christ.  The death of Christ that leads to life.  You can know that life.  Accept him and open your life to him, acknowledge your sin, admit you are conscious of it, reach out to him by faith, ask him to come into your life and cleanse you from sin.  If you pray that sincerely he will come in, he will come and live in your life by his Holy Spirit.  He will give you assurance of forgiveness and acceptance before God.